The Old County Morgue waited at the edge of the medical district, where buildings gave way to chain link and empty roads. Low clouds pressed down, flattening the sky, smothering the streetlights into weak amber puddles. Rain drifted in and out, never settling, ghostlike. The air clung damp and cold, the wind sharper than it should have been.

Almost ten. Jared stepped out, collar pulled high against the drizzle. Adrian circled the car, the lock clicking shut. Rain threaded through Adrian’s hair, left a sheen on his coat. He did not flinch. His eyes were already on the morgue.

Two stories of concrete, windows stretched long and thin, leaking weak fluorescent light. The place was quiet, emptied of all but the night staff. Rain, wet pavement, and a metallic tang from the waste chute hung in the air.

Jared shifted the holster under his coat as they moved closer. The Dark inside him stirred, slow and coiling at the base of his spine. Awake. Watching. Not hostile. Not yet.

The glass doors buzzed open after Adrian showed their credentials. The laminated badges read Special Investigations Unit. Official enough to get them past any front desk. Unofficial enough that no one liked asking questions. Then again, no one from Department 7 really looked like they were an official of any kind.

The night receptionist looked them over as they approached the counter. He swallowed once and adjusted his glasses.

“You’re from Department 7,” he said.

“That's correct,” Adrian replied, his voice even and polite. “We're here to speak with Dr. Baker regarding an ongoing investigation.”

The receptionist nodded and picked up the phone. Jared let his senses slip outward. The Dark pressed against his skin, sending out thin threads, tasting the building. He stood in the center of a web, every shift of air, every flicker of movement, every wrongness echoing back into him.

Something off, deeper in. A thrum at the base of his skull. Something trying to stay quiet, but not quite hidden.

The receptionist hung up and cleared his throat. “He said he will meet you in Autopsy Three. Just go straight down that hall, pass the storage room, and take the left corridor.”

Adrian thanked him in a warm tone. He then nodded for Jared to take the lead.

The hallway was long and lit with harsh white fluorescents that hummed above their heads. Their footsteps echoed on the tile, the sound bouncing back with a hollow cadence. The walls were lined with bulletin boards and outdated safety posters. Every so often, a vent released a breath of cold air that mingled with the scent of antiseptics and faint preservatives.

Passing the supply room, the Dark inside him pulled tight, a string drawn to breaking. He paused by a side door, letting his awareness slip further. Something waited here. Sluggish. Heavy.

Adrian noticed him stop and lowered his voice. “Sense something?”

“It's big,” Jared said quietly.

Adrian nodded and followed as Jared continued forward.

Autopsy Three sat near the corner of the hall. Its door was stainless steel, with a frosted-glass window at eye level. The light inside glowed sterile and flat, highlighting the shape of a metal table within. Dr. Baker was already there, pacing near a workstation with a clipboard in hand.

He looked up the moment they entered. “Officers. I was expecting you earlier.”

Adrian stepped forward with a calm professionalism that could have disarmed a bomb. “We appreciate you meeting us, Dr. Baker. We have some questions regarding bodies that passed through your facility in the last several weeks.”

Jared hung back, drifting behind Adrian, eyes on the exits, the corners. He watched Baker’s every movement. Silent. Steady. Hands near the pistols under his coat.

Baker’s eyes moved between them. He was sweating lightly even in the cold fluorescent environment. His fingers tapped restlessly against the clipboard. “You will have to be more specific.”

Adrian tilted his head slightly. “Several bodies arrived here missing hands. There are records of you signing them in. We also recovered notes from a suspect referencing your name and this facility.”

Jared felt a tightening in the room. Baker stiffened. His heartbeat elevated sharply. His gaze skittered to the side for a moment before snapping back.

“I only handled what came in. I don't know what your suspect wrote.”

Adrian was patient. “Then it would help if you walked us through the intake procedures for the past month and any unusual activity you noticed.”

Baker swallowed and glanced briefly at Jared, as if evaluating which of them was the greater threat. He made the wrong assumption and chose to focus on Adrian.

Jared let his senses slip further. The Dark curled around the room, tasting the air, sliding into the folds of thought. Baker was lying. Not all the way, but enough. The Dark pulsed, sharp and hungry.

Adrian continued at a measured pace, guiding Baker through each relevant question. Jared listened without interrupting. He watched Baker’s posture. There was a tightness in his shoulders and a small tremor in his fingers. He watched the doorway and the hallway behind them.

A cold ripple ran through the floor. Jared straightened. Something massive moved in the lockers. Waiting. 

Adrian caught the change in Jared’s expression from the corner of his eye and gently closed in on the point he had been circling. “Dr. Baker, we need to know if you assisted LeMere in obtaining bodies. This is the time to be honest. People have died. Your cooperation is essential.”

Baker’s breath hitched. His pupils widened. His veneer cracked.

“I did not help him,” he said, voice rising. “I just did what I was told. The department heads wanted certain forms moved. I didn't know what he was doing with them.”

Jared’s voice cut in, quiet and steady. “Yes, you did.”

The Dark swelled, a low thrum inside him. Lights flickered. The steel tray rattled, a warning.

Baker backed up a step. “I didn't. I swear I didn't.”

Jared stepped forward once. Not threatening. Just closing the space enough to keep Baker from bolting.

“You knew,” Jared said. “You delivered bodies to him. You removed hands and organs on request. You knew what he was using them for.”

Baker’s breath came faster. He shook his head over and over, a frantic twitching movement.

Adrian softened his voice. “Dr. Baker. Look at me.”

Baker did.

Adrian held his gaze with calm focus. “Tell us the truth. You will be safer if you do.”

Baker’s shoulders sagged. His expression collapsed into panic.

“He said he needed them for a ritual. He said he was trying to fix something that went wrong last time. He said he needed fresh pieces because the old ones were losing strength.”

A low vibration rolled through the morgue floor. Jared felt it in his bones. The Dark snapped to a taunt line.

Adrian asked, “What did he create?”

Baker’s mouth opened soundlessly. His eyes went wide and glassy.

Behind him, the storage lockers trembled. A deep crack echoed through the metal, followed by a wet thud. Another. And another.

Jared moved first.

“Adrian. Back.”

Adrian complied, moving back so he was behind Jared. He positioned himself behind a metal workstation just as the first locker door violently dented outward.

Jared’s hands found the pistols. The Dark flooded down his arms, liquid night, coating the barrels in a thin, pulsing sheen. The guns felt heavier, not in weight but in meaning. The Dark had claimed them, made them into something that could pierce what should not exist.

The locker tore open with a shriek of metal. A massive form lurched out and dropped to the floor with a wet slap. Its limbs were thick and stitched. Its skin was pale and swollen. One of its arms ended in a mess of fused bone. The chest cavity rose and fell with a grotesque rhythm that had nothing to do with breath.

The flesh golem lifted its head. Its single eye burned with a dull, hateful awareness.

Jared fired twice. Both shots cracked through the morgue with sharp, concussive force. Each bullet struck the creature’s shoulder and carved deep, burning channels through the dead flesh. Smoke curled from the wounds.

The golem roared and charged.

Jared pivoted to the side with a fast sidestep just as the monster’s arm slammed into the metal table he had been standing beside. The impact dented the steel with a loud crunch. Jared rolled across the floor, came up on one knee, and fired again. The Dark-enhanced bullets tore through the creature’s torso, each one leaving a smoldering crater.

Adrian flipped open his medical kit and pulled out an Unhealthy Psychostimulant Injection. He stayed low and came up behind Jared, giving him the shot in the thigh. When the creature barreled toward Jared again, Adrian shouted a sharp warning and dove out of the way. Jared shifted his weight just in time to avoid a sweeping strike that would have crushed his ribs.

The golem lunged, faster than it should have been. Jared twisted, dragging a veil of Dark across his body. Shadow snapped into place, cold and thin. The fist struck his chest, force ringing through him, but not breaking him.

Jared slid back, boots skidding. He let the shield fall, fired three more shots. Shadows licked up the golem’s body where the bullets struck.

Adrian circled behind it. He pulled out his air dart gun and loaded it with a paralysis injection. He shot the creature in the leg with it. The injection didn't seem to slow it down, but it did draw the creature's attention.

Jared took the opening. He dove into a roll, came up at the far angle, and shot directly into the creature’s exposed spine. The bullet hit with a burst of shadow that cracked through the morgue like a dark flare.

The golem let out a guttural bellow. It stumbled, lurched sideways, and crashed into the wall, metal trays scattering everywhere.

For a moment, everything went still.

Until Baker screamed.

The golem turned toward the sound. Something in its eye gleamed with terrible recognition. Baker scrambled back until his shoulders hit the autopsy table. His hands clawed at the metal edge.

Jared fired at the creature’s head. The bullet sank in, but did not drop it. The golem lunged past Jared with startling acceleration.

Adrian moved before Jared could shout. He slammed his shoulder into Baker, knocking him out of the creature’s immediate path. The golem missed Baker by inches and crashed into the table instead, sending instruments flying.

Jared swung his second pistol up and poured a line of shots into the creature’s neck. Each bullet thrummed with the pulse of the Dark. A final shot hit the creature directly in the sternum. Shadows erupted across its chest like a spiderweb fracturing.

The golem let out one last distorted groan before collapsing forward onto the floor.

Silence thudded through the room.

Baker trembled on the ground. Adrian knelt beside him, hands calm. Jared moved closer, senses stretched thin. The Dark drew tight at the base of his skull. The air shifted. Wrongness blooming.

Baker’s breath hitched sharply. His hands flew to his throat as if something were strangling him from the inside. His eyes widened with a pure, frantic terror.

Adrian stepped forward and caught his shoulders. “Baker. Look at me. You are safe. Breathe.”

Baker tried. He could not.

A guttural sound tore from his chest. “LeMere.” The word came out as a ragged gasp.

His back arched violently. The skin along his sternum split with a wet crack. A thin, black tendril of energy forced its way up through the rupture, writhing like a living thread cut from shadow.

Jared’s stomach dropped. He knew exactly what Baker had done.

Adrian pulled away fast and came to Jared’s side. “What is he doing?”

“He tried to use Dark,” Jared said, voice dropping into something cold.

The Dark inside Jared recoiled. Disgust. It had not done this. It did not want him. Baker had reached for something he could not see, could not shape. Now it was eating him from the inside out.

Baker convulsed on the floor. His voice broke into a wet gargle.

“He wanted what LeMere had,” Jared murmured. “He thought he could use it.”

The tendril pulsed violently. Baker’s chest tore open wider. There was a sudden eruption, a burst of uncontrolled shadow energy that ripped through his torso. Tiny fragments of bone and tissue were scattered across the tile. The overhead lights flickered wildly, humming as if straining against the surge. The shadowy flare collapsed on itself as fast as it had expanded, dissolving into faint wisps that evaporated into nothing. Baker’s body fell sideways and went still. His eyes stared at the ceiling, already hollow and empty.

Jared did not move. The Dark pulsed, heavy and tense, repulsed by what it had seen.

Adrian rose from Baker’s side slowly, wiping his hands on the thighs of his pants even though there was no blood on him. His expression was steady. He took a slow breath, pulled his phone from his jacket pocket, and stepped toward the workstation.

“I am calling it in,” he said softly.

Jared nodded, leaning against the cabinet. Tension dropped in broken jolts as the injection faded. Aftershocks rattled through him, fingertips tingling, muscles threatening to cramp. The Dark inside him was restless, quieter, unsettled by Baker’s death. By the wrongness of a human reaching for what should never be touched.

Adrian kept his voice low as he spoke on the phone. “This is Field Medic Korr. We have a confirmed death of Dr. Charles Baker and the destruction of an animated construct created by LeMere. We need a full-scene processing unit and a containment crew at the Old County Morgue. Yes. Immediate deployment.”

He listened for a moment. “Yes. Both bodies are secure. The construct is down. No further threats detected.”

He glanced at Jared. Jared rubbed his jaw. Tired, not in the bones but at the edges of himself, as if the injection had burned away the last reserves. The crash left the room too bright, too cold.

Adrian finished the call and lowered the phone. He walked back to Jared.

“They are sending a full team,” Adrian said. “Two forensic techs, a containment crew, and a pair of officers from Bravo team.”

“Good,” Jared murmured.

Adrian came closer, looking him over with the steady attention of someone who had spent years learning his cues. “How are you feeling?”

Jared rolled one shoulder. “Coming off the injection.” His muscles jumped under his skin. “Twitchy.”

Adrian placed a hand on his arm. “Your body will level out soon. Just breathe.”

Jared did. The Dark settled a little further.

While they waited, Adrian moved through the room with quiet precision. He adjusted the overturned trays, marked the position of the creature’s remains with his phone camera, and recorded a short log for the department’s case file. His movements were steady, efficient, and entirely in control. He checked Baker’s body again, then began documenting the scorch marks left by the dark eruption.

Jared watched from the side, arms folded, breath evening out. Adrian’s movements soothed. Calm. Methodical. Deliberate. Easier to watch than to think about the weight in his chest, the tremors in his limbs.

Adrian paused long enough to look over his shoulder at him. “I know that feeling. The post-injection exhaustion. Try to stay standing. Once we get home, you can rest.”

Jared made a soft noise of agreement.

The sound of boots in the hallway signaled the arrival of the processing team. The first two officers entered with containment gear, followed by the forensic techs in white suits. One of the Bravo officers gave Jared a nod of recognition before moving past him to examine the collapsed creature.

Adrian briefed them all with concise clarity. He outlined the sequence of events, the creature’s movements, Baker’s final moments, and the location of every important piece of evidence. His tone never wavered. His posture remained straight and confident.

Jared watched from near the door. The Dark had gone mostly still. The twitching in his limbs had eased.

Adrian stepped back from the cluster of officers and approached Jared.

“They can take it from here,” Adrian said quietly. “There is nothing else we need to stay for.”

Jared looked at Baker’s body, the empty eyes staring up at the ceiling tiles that would never answer whatever last fear he had felt. Then he looked at the ruined golem, its pieces already being carefully lifted into containment bags.

“It is over,” Jared said.

Adrian nodded.

They stepped out into the hallway together.

The building felt colder now, emptied of danger, the energy drained away. Fluorescent lights hummed. Rain tapped at the windows.

The two of them walked toward the front doors without speaking. Their footsteps echoed in a steady, familiar rhythm. The receptionist at the front desk looked at them with wide eyes but did not ask any questions as they passed.

Outside, the drizzle had become a fine mist, clinging to their coats. The air was damp, sharp with winter. Their breath fogged as they crossed the lot.

Adrian unlocked the car, slid into the driver’s seat with a quiet exhale. Jared followed, hands resting in his lap.

“You did well,” Adrian said.

Jared stared through the windshield for a moment as the wipers cleared the glass. “You kept Baker alive long enough to tell us what happened.”

Adrian gave a small nod. “He made the choice to reach for something he didn't understand. All we could do was witness the result.”

Adrian started the engine. The hum of the motor filled the quiet space between them.

Adrian looked at him with a warm, steady expression. “Let us go home.” He put the car in gear.

They pulled away, leaving the morgue behind. Dim windows faded into the wet dark of winter.

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